1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to movable body apparatus, pattern forming apparatus and pattern forming methods, device manufacturing methods, manufacturing methods of movable body apparatus and movable body drive methods, and more particularly to a movable body apparatus equipped with a movable body that can move, a pattern forming apparatus to form a pattern on an object and a pattern forming method using the pattern forming apparatus, a device manufacturing method using the pattern forming method, a method of manufacturing the movable body apparatus, and a movable body drive method to drive the movable body.
2. Description of the Background Art
Conventionally, in a process or the like of manufacturing glass substrates such as liquid crystal displays (flat-panel displays), a processing apparatus, e.g. an exposure apparatus or the like is used.
In this type of exposure apparatus, a stage device, which is equipped with a stage that two-dimensionally moves while holding a substrate serving as an object to be exposed, and a drive mechanism that drives the stage, is used (e.g. refer to Kokai (Japanese Patent Unexamined Application Publication) No. 2006-203113).
However, in the case of this type of stage device, as the substrate grows in size, the entire stage that holds the substrate also grows in size accordingly. There is a risk that such increase in size of the substrate makes a stroke of the stage longer, which causes the entire apparatus to grow in size and weight.
Furthermore, when the stage grows in size and weight in the stage device, a drive force required to drive the stage also increases. Accordingly, the drive mechanism to drive the stage grows in size and also heat generated from the drive mechanism increases, and therefore, there is a risk that the heat affects the substrate and the periphery thereof, which lowers the exposure accuracy.